Today is part two of Pastor Dons message on Stewardship, we hope youll like and share the message with others. IMPLICATIONS OF STEWARDSHIP 1.Stewardship implies a lack of ownership Matthew 25:14-18 , Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. 15 To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. 17 So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. 18 But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his masters money. When you think about stewardship, the very word itself implies the lack of ownership. If you are a steward of something it means that you are working for someone else. You are using their resources, to accomplish a goal for them not for yourself. Just as the man in the story owned what was entrusted to His servants, God owns what He entrusts to us. That is very different from our way of thinking. In our thinking, we own our stuff. We worked for it, or someone else gave it to us, and it is ours. That’s not the way the Bible defines our lives and our things. According to Scripture, God owns all thingss for at least 2 reasions. a). As a human being, I God owns me because He created me God created the world and the universe, and He has retained ownership of it. Everything belongs to God. Haggai 2:8 says, The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine, declares the LORD Almighty. Psalm 24:1, Of David. A psalm. “The earth is the Lords, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;” That is an incredible amount of things. Some scientists say that the number of stars in creation is equal to all the grains of all the sands on all the beaches of the world. . A pastor once delivered a sermon on Gods Ownership that upset a wealthy member. The wealthy man took the pastor out for lunch and then walked him through his elaborate gardens, woodlands, and farm. When he finished the tour, he said, “Now are you going to tell me that all this land does not belong to me? The pastor smiled and said, Ask me that same question a hundred years from now. Nothing is permanently ours. The Possessor of heaven and earth placed you here, not as a proprietor, but as a steward.. This church doesn’t belong to us. God. He is just giving us a place to serve him. The money I have is not mine. God is just letting me handle it for a while. Even my children are not ultimately mine. They are on loan for a few years so that we can point them in the right direction. b. As a Christian, God owns me because He purchased me Not often someone’s buys something if made it. Sometimes. Years ago, little boy named Tom made a small boat so he could play with it in water. Tom carried his new boat to the edge of the river. He carefully placed it in the water and slowly let out the string. Boat sailing smoothly until suddenly a strong current caught the boat. Tom tried to pull it back to shore, but the string broke. The little boat raced downstream. Tom ran along the sandy shore as fast as he could. But his little boat soon slipped out of sight. All afternoon he searched for the boat. Finally, when it was too dark to look any longer, Tom sadly went home. A few days later, on the way home from school, Tom spotted a boat just like his in a store window. When he got closer, he could see -- sure enough -- it was his! Tom hurried to the store manager: Sir, thats my boat in your window! I made it! Sorry, son, but someone else brought it in this morning. If you want it, youll have to buy it for one dollar. Tom ran home and counted all his money. Exactly one dollar! When he reached the store, he rushed to the counter. Heres the money for my boat. As he left the store, Tom hugged his boat and said, Now youre twice mine. First, I made you and now I bought you. God made us-also bought us. (1 Cor 6;19-20.) 19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. We are twice His because He owns us and paid a ransom for us. So when we talk about stewardship the first thing that must be very clear to us is that we are not talking about managing something that belongs to us. We’re talking about managing something that belongs to God. 2. Stewardship implies accountability. Most people don’t care what you do with your own stuff. If you want to throw away a new shirt, that’s o.k. In all probability, no one is going to hold you accountable for that. On the other hand, if you take on the responsibility of taking someone’s else’s shirt to the cleaners and you decide to throw it away instead because you don’t particularly like the color, they will hold you accountable. They are probably going to want you to replace the shirt. Whoever owns what we are managing will hold us accountable for how we use their resources. 16 The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. 17 So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. 18 But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his masters money. Why would this man hide his master’s money? In Jewish culture burying money in the ground was considered the safest way of keeping money protected. So to keep his masters money secure, the third servant takes the safest possible route. 19 After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. When the master returned from his journey, he called each servant into His presence and required a face-to- face report from each one on how hed managed his possessions. 20 The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. Master, he said, you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more. 21 His master replied, Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your masters happiness! 22 The man with the two talents also came. Master, he said, you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more. 23 His master replied, Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your masters happiness! 24 Then the man who had received the one talent came. Master, he said, I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you. 26 His master replied, You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. 28 Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. 29 For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The interesting thing is not that the 1st 2 men were rewarded. We would expect the man to reward the wise investments they made. The interesting thing is the sharp condemnation given to the man who “played it safe” with his master’s money. After all, he didn’t lose anything. The truth is the man didn’t entrust the steward with what he had so he could keep it safe. He wanted it invested so that he could have a return. It would be like you going to stock broker and trusting his advice on what investment he should make. After 1 year, you find out he didn’t invest it at all. He just kept in safe place. You probably would not be happy. God gives us the time, abilities and money, and He wants us to use it for His glory. We will be held responsible for what we do with what we have been given. (2 COR 5:9-10) So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.. Many places in Scripture tell us that we will give an account for the lives we have lived on earth. fellowship-katy.org
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 12:00:01 +0000
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